Waiting for Undyne
by VolcanicPizza
Summary: While he is waiting for Undyne to come to Snowdin, Papyrus goes to Sans's Snowdin sentry station and learns the reason for his existential depression. After all, it doesn't matter if Sans tells him. It's all going to be reset anyway, won't it? (Oneshot, loosely based on "Waiting for Godot")


**A/N: After I read the play "Waiting for Godot" in my free time, I realized that some of the themes in it could apply to Undertale, more specifically Sans, and decided to write a oneshot loosely based on it. This is the result. (Set immediately before/during the events of Frisk's journey.)**

Sans drummed his bony fingers idly on his sentry station. The staccato sound of bony fingers clicking against wood echoed around him.

With a sigh, the skeleton closed his eyesockets, but they leaped open at the sound of footsteps crunching in the snow.

"HELLO, SANS!" cried out a cheerful voice, and Sans looked up at his brother as he neared his station. "oh. hey, bro."

Frowning, Papyrus rapped on the roof of the sentry station. A cascade of snow slid down onto Sans, and sputtering he wiped it away. "ARE YOU SURE YOU WEREN'T SLEEPING ON DUTY?"

Sans swept snow off of his skull. "no. i didn't have the time because you woke me before i had the chance to fall asleep."

Papyrus didn't miss a beat. "GOOD THING I CAME ALONG, THEN! NYEH HEH HEH!"

"so what're you doing out here?"

"OH, UNDYNE TOLD ME SHE'D BE COMING OUT INTO SNOWDIN IN A BIT. ALTHOUGH SHE DIDN'T SAY WHY..." Papyrus paused for a moment to think about this.

"probably more human-patrol stuff." Sans shrugged. "we do only need to get one more before we can leave the underground."

"THAT IS PROBABLY THE MOST LIKELY EXPLANATION." Spinning around, cape flying majestically behind him despite there being no wind, Papyrus proclaimed, "I SHALL PATROL THE IMMEDIATE AREA!" He proceeded to run in a complete circle around the station twice. "NO HUMANS HERE!"

"you sure there isn't one on the roof of the station?"

"OF COURSE THERE ISN'T ONE ON THE ROOF!" Papyrus replied. "NO HUMAN IS TALL ENOUGH TO GET UP THERE, BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM!" In a single leap Papyrus was on top of the sentry station.

Sans ducked inside the station as Papyrus's boots dislodged another load of snow. "WHILE I'M UP HERE, I MAY AS WELL DO SOMETHING USEFUL..." More snow fell from the roof as Papyrus peered back down under the roof at Sans with a crafty expression. "...UNLIKE A CERTAIN LAZYBONES WHO CONSTANTLY SQUANDERS OPPORTUNITIES TO BECOME AS GREAT AS HIS BROTHER AND USES THEM TO MAKE TERRIBLE PUNS INSTEAD."

"i can't help how i am." Papyrus's face twitched as he sensed what was coming a second beforehand. "it's _snow_ joke, bro, it's _ice_ -"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" With an infuriated growl Papyrus withdrew his head. "I WILL STOP YOU RIGHT THERE, SANS!"

Sans continued regardless. "as i was saying, it's _ice_ being your brother and all, but i just can't help the _tundra_ -"

"NO! NO! NO! NO!" Papyrus jumped up and down several times on the roof of the station, making the boards creak beneath his boots. "NO MORE OR I AM JUMPING OFF THE ROOF HEAD-FIRST RIGHT NOW!"

"okay, jeez, papyrus, _chill_ out." Sans grinned; he couldn't resist the opportunity.

Papyrus didn't seem to hear him, instead spinning around to survey the surrounding landscape. "NO HUMANS IN SIGHT!" he reported.

"sure." Sans fumbled around in a pocket and pulled out a bottle of ketchup, but quickly slid it back inside as Papyrus jumped from the station roof to the snow, sending snow spraying around him. Dislodging a piece of ice from his nostril hole, Sans let out a heaving sigh.

"I WONDER WHEN UNDYNE WILL BE HERE." Papyrus sighed. He began to sit in front of the station, but jumped back up instantly. "OH NO! I ALMOST SAT DOWN TO TAKE A NAP! I'M TURNING INTO _YOU_ , SANS! HELP!"

Sans started laughing.

"THERE IS NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT THIS, SANS!" Papyrus actually had a single tear leaking from his eyesocket. "THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS AND GRIEVOUS MOMENT FOR ME! I HAVE BEEN CORRUPTED BY MY LAZY BROTHER INTO SOMETHING PRECISELY THE OPPOSITE OF MYSELF!"

"i'm so proud." Sans started to say, but then stopped. "oh, what's the point of going through the same old script over and over again? it's not going to matter in the end anyway."

"SANS, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

Sans's chest heaved. "it's all going to be taken back to the beginning without any of us remembering, anyway. including this conversation."

"FIRST OFF, SANS, SUCH A THING CANNOT HAPPEN, SO THAT IS JUST A POOR EXCUSE FOR BEING LAZY. AND SECOND, IF SUCH A THING COULD HAPPEN, YOU WOULD NOT REMEMBER IT, AS YOU YOURSELF STATED."

"that's... the point..." Sans looked up at his brother. "we won't remember anything that we did before. so we'll just keep on doing what we did before, making the same mistakes, singing the same tired song until suddenly everything ends."

"SANS-"

"why are we here?"

"WE'RE WAITING FOR UNDYNE, REMEMBER?"

"i mean, existentially. why are we here? why do we exist? what's the point of our existence? what if there isn't one? or worse yet, what if we were created just to serve as pawns in some cosmic game where it doesn't matter who is killed?"

"THAT IS..." Papyrus pondered for a moment. "THOSE ARE ALL ACTUALLY VERY GOOD QUESTIONS. THAT I DO NOT KNOW THE ANSWER TO. BUT MAYBE UNDYNE WILL WHEN SHE GETS HERE!"

Sans sighed. "there's no point in waiting for her. no point in asking her what she thinks, either. it'll all just go back to zero."

"NO, IT WON'T..." But the certainty in Sans's voice was beginning to get to his more optimistic brother, resolve wearing away.

"doesn't matter if i tell you this, you won't remember anyway." Sans was silent for a moment. "there's a human. any minute now they'll exit the door into the ruins and come here. every time they start this world over... every time they _reset_... what they do varies. sometimes they befriend us all, sometimes they kill us all, sometimes it's in between. it depends on their mood, really. and they reset after every time so that we won't remember and they can use us as their playthings all over again, without any danger of us wearing out and ending the game."

Papyrus said nothing.

"in most timelines we wouldn't even be having this conversation. but my depression from all of the other timelines has lagged over enough..." Sans trailed off. "when will undyne be here?"

"I DON'T KNOW?" Papyrus pondered, glad his brother was off of the more depressing existential subject. "SHE DIDN'T REALLY SPECIFY A TIME, COME TO THINK OF IT."

"eh, doesn't matter in the end." Sans slumped down and placed his head down on his arms. "there's only one way i can think of to break the cycle, and i think i'm ready to do it, but..."

Papyrus was about to answer his brother, but stopped at the approach of a figure in the distance. "HEY, ISN'T THAT THAT MONSTER CHILD FROM SNOWDIN TOWN?"

"probably, if this timeline is anything like the others."

"Yo!" The monster kid bounced up and down impatiently, excited to be delivering a message for their idol. "Undyne said, uh, she won't be able to come today, but definitely tomorrow."

"just like always." Sans sighed. "just like you always say."

"Uh, what?"

"never mind." Sans waved a hand. "go celebrate this timeline while it's still here."

Confused, the monster kid departed.

"SANS, WHY ARE YOU ACTING OUT LIKE THIS?"

" i just told you why." Shrugging, the skeleton continued, "welp, might as well make an effort to change things this timeline around."

"SANS, WHAT DO YOU MEAN-"

But he was already gone, headed for the purple behemoth looming west of Snowdin.

* * *

The child should have been frightened. But they weren't. They forged confidently on ahead, toy knife in hand.

Like they had been here before, countless times.

And they had.

"hey, kid."

They froze.

"don't you know how to greet a new friend? turn around and shake my hand."

The child complied, turning around and reaching for Sans's hand. He grasped it firmly, squeezing to force all of the air out of the whoopee cushion.

A tiny, startled giggle escaped the child. _that always seems to get them_ , Sans thought. _at least, in the timelines where they don't kill everyone._

"there's no point in going through these same old introductions." sighed the skeleton, and the kid's eyes widened at the change from the usual script. "you already know who i am. have for a long time. so i figured, let's change things a little this time. one of the only ways to do so i can think of should be quick and relatively painless for us both."

He raised his hand, and a Gaster blaster appeared over his head. The child's eyes widened as they realized what he was about to do.

"maybe this'll make you reconsider your incessant resetting. see you next time, kid."

It vomited forth its deadly beam once, and nothing was left but dust.


End file.
